New data legislation coming into force in 2018 will 'modernise' the events industry, according to the MD of customer insight and analytics consultancy Acrotrend.
The company boasts clients including UBM, Reed Exhibitions, BNP Paribas, Nuffield Health and Cancer Research UK, and its MD Sandeep Mendiratta says the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that comes into effect on 25 May 2018 constitutes the biggest change to the data protection regime in the EU since the 1995 Data Protection Directive.
Mendiratta, says: “GDPR will change how we arrange, market, attend and follow-up events, but it is a golden opportunity for event businesses to gain maximum value from their data.
“Data collection has an increasingly important role in the events industry as the more personal data event organisers can collect about the people who attend their events, the better they can customise the event experience.
“For the events industry GDPR means cleaner data, better events and closer relationships with clients as it will provide event businesses with a truly holistic view of their customers. It will modernise the events industry and its practices.”
Any organisation collecting and processing data on European citizens falls under the new regulation. Event companies hosting events in Europe or with events hosting European citizens, regardless of where they are taking place, will need to adhere to the GDPR.
